Latest news with #ModernStandardArabic
Mint
21-05-2025
- Business
- Mint
UAE Releases Falcon Arabic AI Model To Outcompete Mideast Rivals
Bloomberg Updated 21 May 2025, 11:56 AM IST (Bloomberg) -- A research arm of the Abu Dhabi government has released a powerful new Arabic-language artificial intelligence model in a bid to preserve its technological lead over rivals in the Middle East. The new system, called Falcon Arabic, was trained on a dataset spanning Modern Standard Arabic and regional dialects. The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), the Abu Dhabi group behind Falcon, claims the new offering matches the performance of models up to 10 times its size. TII also launched Falcon H1, a small model that it said outperforms similarly sized options from Meta Platforms Inc. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. In the Middle East, as in other markets, companies have been rethinking whether the significant cost of building cutting-edge AI models from scratch is worthwhile. The new Falcon releases signal the United Arab Emirates is vying to stay in the AI race. While Falcon remains the leading offering from the UAE, it has struggled to keep up with advances from open-source alternatives from Meta and China's DeepSeek. In 2023, TII touted the AI system's first-place ranking in open-source models on Hugging Face, a closely-watched barometer for the industry. As of last month, Falcon did not rank in the top 500 on the platform's leaderboard, Bloomberg News previously reported. Its user numbers also lag far behind Meta and other rivals. The UAE has pushed ahead with other ways to get into the current AI boom beyond model development. G42, an Emirati tech conglomerate, recently announced plans to build a 5-gigawatt data center campus in Abu Dhabi, along with several US firms. MGX, an investment fund co-formed by G42, partnered with Nvidia Corp. and French firms to establish what they say will be Europe's largest AI data center campus. MGX has also backed US AI developers OpenAI and Elon Musk's xAI. More stories like this are available on
Zawya
30-04-2025
- Business
- Zawya
CNTXT AI unveils Munsit: The most accurate Arabic speech recognition model
Built in the UAE, Munsit sets a new global standard for Arabic speech recognition, powering seamless transcription across private and public services DUBAI, UAE – CNTXT AI, the UAE-based Data and AI company, today announced the launch of Munsit — a next-generation Arabic speech-to-text model that outperforms every global model on Arabic, including those from OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft and ElevenLabs. Munsit' — derived from the Arabic root for 'to listen' — symbolizes a breakthrough in voice technology that truly listens with attentiveness and understands the richness of Arabic speech. Developed entirely in the UAE, Munsit sets a new benchmark for transcription accuracy across Modern Standard Arabic and 25+ dialects, enabling seamless Arabic voice data processing across real-world applications. This breakthrough reflects CNTXT AI's mission to build sovereign technology — AI built in the region, for the region — that competes globally. The model is available now via API, and on-premises deployment for organizations seeking full data control. How Munsit Powers Arabic Voice Solutions Munsit is designed to deliver highly accurate Arabic transcription across diverse, real-world scenarios. Addressing the increasing demand for reliable Arabic language solutions, Munsit empowers essential applications, including: Subtitling for Content Creators: Automatically generates precise Arabic subtitles for films, videos and podcasts. Meeting Notes and Minute-Taking: Transcribes meetings and discussions into Arabic, supporting official documentation and efficient record-keeping. Call Center Support: Converts voice messages and chatbot interactions in Arabic into text, streamlining feedback and quality assurance processes. Government and Public Services: Offers transcription and dialect comprehension services tailored for public sector needs, such as processing citizen requests and ensuring accessible communication. Built for Arabic, Trained on Real Voices To create Munsit, CNTXT AI processed over 30,000 hours of Arabic audio, refining it into a high-quality 15,000-hour dataset that captures a wide range of dialects, accents, age groups, and environments. Munsit is powered by advanced AI and high-performance NVIDIA infrastructure, delivering fast, accurate transcription for a variety of Arabic-speaking use cases — from call centers and public services to education and media. Leading Global Performance in Arabic AI Benchmarking on Hugging Face leaderboard confirmed that Munsit-1 outperformed leading global speech recognition systems — including OpenAI's Whisper and GPT-4o Transcribe, Meta's SeamlessM4T, ElevenLabs' Scribe, and Microsoft Azure's Speech-to-Text —on Arabic datasets. CNTXT AI has also released a detailed research paper, outlining the model's architecture, training methodology and evaluation results. 'Munsit is more than just a breakthrough in speech recognition — it's a declaration that Arabic belongs at the forefront of global AI,' said Mohammad Abu Sheikh, CEO of CNTXT AI. 'We've proven that world-class AI doesn't need to be imported — it can be built here, in Arabic, for Arabic. This launch sets a new standard for sovereign technology, made in the UAE and ready for the world.' A Strategic Step Toward Arabic-Language AI Leadership Munsit-1 is the first step in a broader roadmap toward a full suite of Arabic voice technologies — from TTS to AI voice assistants. 'This is only version one,' added Abu Sheikh. 'What comes next will redefine how Arabic is understood, spoken, and processed by machines — on our terms, in our language.' ABOUT CNTXT AI is a UAE-based Data and AI company that enables organizations to prepare, build, test, deploy, and scale sovereign AI solutions while maintaining full data control. Our comprehensive suite of solutions transforms data into actionable AI applications—seamlessly, securely, and without compromising sovereignty. From AI-ready data pipelines to scalable deployment and industry-standard validation, we ensure AI adoption is practical, compliant, and optimized for real-world impact.
Arabian Business
31-03-2025
- Business
- Arabian Business
AB Majlis podcast: Google MENA tackles ‘hardest challenge' in AI – Mastering 16 Arabic dialects
Google's Gemini AI has conquered 16 of the region's 25 Arabic dialects, but the tech giant admits the complexity of Arabic language variations remains one of the most formidable challenges in AI development worldwide. In an exclusive interview on the AB Majlis podcast, Anthony Nakache, Managing Director of Google MENA, revealed the company's progress in creating AI that can truly understand the region's linguistic diversity. 'The challenge is, how do you account for the local nuances and the cultural differences,' Nakache explained. 'This is a hard challenge, but this is something that we are committed to do if you want to make it as useful as possible.' While Gemini now understands 16 Arabic dialects, it currently responds only in Modern Standard Arabic — highlighting the ongoing technical hurdle of building AI that not only comprehends regional speech patterns but can authentically replicate them. $15 million initiative targets Arabic AI gap To accelerate progress, Google has announced its largest-ever regional initiative, committing $15 million through to advance AI skills, safety, and adoption across the Middle East and North Africa. 'We'll launch new curriculum for AI in Arabic. We'll also launch new Google-led and partner-led training programs to really train all users in the region,' Nakache said, detailing plans to upskill half a million people in AI over the next two years. This massive training push comes alongside infrastructure investments including operational cloud regions in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, a newly announced region in Kuwait, and expanded AI capabilities in Saudi Arabia. Google's approach to solving the Arabic language challenge involves multidisciplinary teams of 'product experts, engineers, linguists' working together and making direct visits to Saudi Arabia and the UAE to gather user feedback. Young Arabs reveal unexpected AI usage patterns The investment is driven partly by surprising data on how regional users are utilising AI—in ways markedly different from global trends. 'Over the last couple of months, we've seen a massive increase, especially in the young generation, of prompts that are related to productivity,' Nakache revealed. 'These prompts include things like developing a CV, preparing for an interview, writing effective emails, and that's actually not something we see to the same extent in other parts of the world.' This career-focused approach distinguishes MENA users from those in other regions, where generative AI is often used more for entertainment or general information. 'The young generations in MENA are getting ready to enter the workforce, but also getting ready to develop their career and grow their career using AI,' he added. $320 million economic potential drives government support The economic stakes are enormous. Nakache cited analysis from The Economist projecting that 'by 2030 AI in this region could accrue up to $320 billion in economic value.' This potential has catalysed unprecedented government action across the Gulf. 'They're appointing ministers. They are creating AI authorities. They are building progressive regulation. They are investing in infrastructure,' Nakache said, noting that regional governments 'are doing everything they can to really capture this amazing opportunity.' A study by Ipsos found that 'UAE users are among the most optimistic when it comes to AI globally,' creating a uniquely receptive market for advanced AI technologies. Education and healthcare first to transform Looking beyond language capabilities, Nakache identified education and healthcare as the sectors poised for most immediate transformation. In education, he described AI's ability to help teachers 'boost their creativity and improve their productivity,' allowing them to 'save time and reinvest that time working with students.' He shared a personal anecdote of using Gemini with his 7-year-old son, having 'a 10-minute conversation about the solar system' that he called 'a magical experience' that demonstrated how AI is 'totally changing the way we are interacting with information.' For healthcare, Google's efforts include Med LM, a specialised medical language model, and its Alpha Fold project, which recently earned two Google researchers a Nobel Prize in Chemistry for revolutionising how scientists predict protein structures. 'It used to take four to five years for one person to actually predict the 3D shape of a protein,' Nakache explained. 'In one year with Alpha Fold, we've mapped 200 million proteins,' accelerating research in fields from cancer treatment to climate science. After 15 years in the MENA region, Nakache concluded that Google has 'never been more committed to this region than we are today,' with AI representing 'the most profound way we're actually going to fulfill our mission' of organising the world's information. Tune in to AB Majlis every Monday To listen to the full episode and gain a comprehensive understanding of doing business in the Gulf region, visit our RSS feed or check out AB Majlis on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other platforms. Episodes are also available on: Tune in every Monday for weekly episodes that will help you stay ahead of the curve and enrich your understanding of the Gulf region.
